The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (8 page)

Finally, Ludendorff switched off the holoimage.

Maddox grew thoughtful. “Are you expecting me to believe that’s actual footage of a real attack?”

“Footage, as you put it, that happened two days ago,” Ludendorff said.

“The giant ship jumped to New Arabia?”

“Not directly from the system where we saw it, but yes,” Ludendorff said. “Permit me to explain how I know this. The New Men possess a handful of interstellar communication artifacts. One of the relics was aboard a star cruiser in the New Arabia System that witnessed the destruction I just showed you. I happen to have one of these incredible devices myself and received the images a day ago.”

“This communication device is aboard
Victory
?” Maddox asked.

“Don’t bother looking for it, Captain. You won’t find it. As to
why
I know: there are a few New Men with opposing philosophical views to their leadership. Now and again, I have spoken with the right thinkers. It was how I knew about the planet-killer’s awakening, its trajectory so
Victory
could intercept it and later, about its frightful carnage in the New Arabia System.”

Maddox was appalled. Could these things be true? “Is there any chance Per Lomax made it aboard the planet-killer?”

“He would have turned off the machine if he had.”

Maddox smiled grimly. “Maybe you thought to use him, but Per Lomax used you. He made it onto the machine and didn’t turn it off. We first captured Per Lomax because he led a boarding party against
Victory
. It’s clear the New Men desire their own alien super-ship. By freeing my prisoner, you may have inadvertently given them one.”

The professor turned away. “An honest man would admit the possibility of what you just said.” He made a waving gesture. “I’m getting too old for these games.”

“What are you suggesting
I
do about any of this?” Maddox asked. “How is
Victory
supposed to stop a fifty-kilometer doomsday machine covered with neutroium?”

Ludendorff eyed him. “I’ve been pondering the problem. It was one of the reasons I accepted the confinement to quarters: to think without interruption. The answer makes me uneasy.”

“I’m assuming you’re uneasy because you don’t like to take unnecessary risks,” Maddox said. “That’s why you used Per Lomax instead of trying to board the planet-killer yourself. And that’s why you want me: to do your risky work for you.”

“I’d hoped the key would work for Per Lomax,” the professor said pensively. “It was a long shot, maybe longer than I let the New Man know. That’s history now. I suppose one method of stopping the planet-killer would be to gather the biggest armada in human history. But we would need the New Men’s help, and they’re not about to give it. By the time the majority of the New Men realize how dangerous the planet-killer really is, most of humanity will already be dead. No, we have to do something ourselves.”

“And that is what?” Maddox asked.

“We must go to the asteroid belt near the Nexus. There, we must search for a control unit. I happen to know the doomsday machine was parked there for thousands of years.”

“And that’s why you hijacked my starship?” Maddox asked. “To go there?”

The professor nodded.

“Why not come to me first and tell me about this or better yet ask for our help?”

“I have my reasons,” the professor said.

Maddox did some quick thinking. Finally, he said, “I’m not going to agree to help unless you give up the backdoor to Galyan. Either I run
Victory,
or I will consider myself your prisoner. As a prisoner, I refuse to help my captor.”

“You’re in no position to bargain,” Ludendorff said.

“But I am. You want my help. To gain it, that’s the price.”

“I could simply lock you in your quarters and do this myself.”

“I don’t think so,” Maddox said. “You like to use proxies. That’s why you sent Per Lomax after the planet-killer. You as good as murdered him. I’m beginning to think he had no chance but for wildest luck.”

Ludendorff scowled. “I’m growing weary of your insults, Captain.”

“You mean to say that the truth can still prick your conscience. That means for all your faults, you haven’t yet become inhuman.”

After a moment, Ludendorff shook his head. “You’re a brash young fellow, but that’s the kind of officer I need. I don’t have time to search for someone else to do this. Thus, I’ll give you a concession. I will retain the backdoor to Galyan. But, I will refrain from using it unless I inform you first.”

Maddox pondered that. Could he get more? “Tell me this,” the captain said. “What is our destination?”

“I already told you.”

“What are the stellar coordinates?” Maddox asked.

Ludendorff shook his head. “I will keep that to myself for now.”

“Why bother? We’ll know once we get there.”

“As I said before, I have my reasons.”

Maddox became thoughtful. “I agree,” he said at last.

“Excellent,” the professor said, tapping the flat device.

The web field disappeared, and Maddox could move again. He stretched and scratched his back, but there was no use drawing his gun for a quick shot. The professor still wore the personal force field.

“I feel compelled to warn you,” the professor said. “This will be your hardest assignment yet.”

“Right,” Maddox said. It would be difficult because he had to find a way to regain control of the starship. He had to surprise the professor, which he would do at the first available opportunity.

-8-

Valerie paced in her quarters.

Ludendorff had taken over the starship. He and his people used the various interior ship systems to watch them, had been watching them for some time. The captain had called a short meeting after the seizure, letting the others know the situation. Maddox had been guarded in his speech because he knew Ludendorff watched and analyzed everything they said.

During the meeting, the captain had brushed aside her question about their exact destination. As the starship’s navigator, Valerie wanted to know where they traveled. Maddox had smiled as if bored with her question, but he might have winked. He’d done it so quickly, though, that she still wasn’t sure.

At first, Valerie had resented the brushoff. Too many times during her Space Academy days, the clique of rich-kid cadets had done just that to her during the group study period. Instead of trying to form her own study group, Valerie had done what she always had and had gone inward. She became a group of one, and out-studied all of them. In fact, Valerie discovered she had a knack for research, finding the little clues that others often missed.

As Valerie paced in her cabin, she wondered about that. Sometimes, life’s hardest trials later proved to have been a blessing. It forced the person to grow, to expand, and discover they could do more than they’d realized.

The lieutenant stopped pacing. A sad smile stretched her lips.

It’s silly to keep worrying about my cadet days. I need to get over it. Doomsday machines and a vicious species war against the New Men are the real threats. I need to stay focused on what’s important
.

Valerie decided to use her strength. She was going to find
Victory’s
destination and find out why Ludendorff hadn’t told them. With that in mind, she marched from her quarters and returned to the bridge.

Keith sat in the pilot’s chair. The second lieutenant was in his mid-twenties, with sandy-colored hair, a ready grin and mischievous blue eyes. The small Scotsman was the best pilot there was, and he liked to make sure everyone understood just how good he really was.

“Lieutenant,” Keith said in way of greeting.

Valerie nodded, going to navigation.

They chatted for three quarters of an hour. Finally, Keith stood, stretched and said he was off to bed.

Valerie waited to do what she planned. Ludendorff could be spying on her. If so, she would bore him to tears before attempting her real endeavor.

Two hours after Keith’s departure, Valerie began to use the computer, checking various navigation routes. She ran through a series of nonsense diagnostics. Sprinkled between those were her serious studies. As she did this, Valerie looked up various data. Most of those searches meant nothing.

For the next several hours, she studied old battles, the size of Laumer-Point openings and gravitational dampeners.

Each Laumer-Point was different. Some had large openings into the tramlines. Some were narrow and dangerous. Star Watch categorized the Laumer-Points into various classes. The largest jump gates could accommodate the biggest battleships and Spacer haulers. The smallest would only allow probes to squeeze through.

Valerie studied the starship’s heading and the various star systems along the way. She recalled Meta’s story of her time with Kane. They had exited a Cestus hauler and used a small Laumer-Point to reach the system with the Nexus.

After four and a half hours of research, Valerie believed she had pinpointed the vessel’s destination. She didn’t stop working, though, but continued to follow the same procedure for another hour. Finally, the lieutenant looked up facts on the targeted star system. What she found shocked her.

Later, Valerie yawned, bleary-eyed and sleepy. Keith returned to the bridge. She bid him goodnight and stumbled off to her quarters. She knew she had to find a way to tell Maddox her findings.

On her cot, Valerie lay awake for over an hour, worrying about how to do that before the answer finally dawned on her. That worked like a drug, eliminating her restlessness. She fell asleep five minutes later.

In the morning, Valerie dragged herself to the cafeteria. She ate several strips of bacon and drank two cups of coffee. During the meal, she noticed something strange from one of Ludendorff’s people, who had finally been released from their quarters.

The sight made her shiver with dread. To hide further reactions, the lieutenant stared at her empty cup.

I have to tell Maddox about this. Meta’s life may be in danger
.

Valerie got up several minutes later. She wouldn’t look at the professor’s man. She didn’t dare. This was bad. The lieutenant headed for the bridge, realizing she would have to let the captain know about this new danger as well.

***

Maddox and Lieutenant Noonan were on the bridge. Today, Galyan helped the professor fully repair the disruptor cannon. Thus, the holoimage wasn’t at its usual location on the bridge. Under the professor’s guidance, the technicians and his Wolf Prime people constructed a heat-bleeder and de-atomizer. If they succeeded, Maddox would be able to use the disruptor cannon normally in combat without having to worry it would overheat and blow up, destroying
Victory
.

Valerie had been in the pilot’s seat for some time. The lieutenant seemed unusually quiet today.

Even as Maddox thought that, Valerie stood abruptly, moving to navigation. Her fingers played over the console there. Soon, she began to tap harder than Maddox had ever observed before, even during battle. The lieutenant didn’t look up to see if he noticed. Instead, she concentrated on what she did.

Finally, it dawned on Maddox that Valerie was attempting to signal him covertly. He got up and wandered to her location.

“You’re hard at work,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said. She pressed her palm against the panel. On the small screen to the side appeared a star system. While remaining on the panel, her index finger pointed at a reading on top of the screen:
Xerxes 14C
.

Maddox noted it before walking away. Valerie must have understood his unspoken message yesterday at the meeting. This was her sending him a veiled message in return.

As he returned to his command chair, Valerie continued to tap the panel until once more she stood abruptly, moving back to the pilot’s chair.

Ten minutes later, she said, “I could use a cup of java.”

“That’s a good idea,” Maddox said. “I’ll join you.”

They left the bridge and walked down several corridors to the cafeteria. Neither of them said a word. In the cafeteria, Valerie went to the coffee machine. She fiddled with it for a time.

Finally, sensing what she wanted, Maddox asked, “Is something wrong with the coffeemaker?”

The lieutenant nodded without looking up.

Leisurely, he pushed back his chair, rose and moved beside her. This close, it was obvious that nothing was wrong with the machine.

“What if you do this?” Maddox asked, touching the coffeemaker.

“Oh,” Valerie said. She manipulated the machine and it began to grind loudly in a most unusual way.

“Did you see the Xerxes 14C System?” Valerie asked. She said it just loud enough so Maddox could hear her over the noise.

“I did,” Maddox whispered.

“I think that’s where
Victory
is headed,” Valerie said.

“And?” Maddox asked.

Keeping her head down, with her hands on the coffeemaker, Valerie asked, “Have you ever heard of the Bermuda Triangle on Earth?”

“It’s in the area of the Sargasso Sea,” he said.

“Yes,” she said, urgently. “But do you know the old legends?”

“Something about lost ships and strange occurrences,” Maddox said with a frown.

“That’s right,” Valerie said. “The Xerxes System has a similar reputation but for greater reason. Spaceships have disappeared after going into the system. Thirty years ago, the Boron Company set up a mining colony on the metal-heavy moon of the third planet. The colony vanished, leaving no traces of the buildings or landing zones. Few military routes go through the Laumer-Points in the Xerxes System. I don’t think any space-liners ever use those jump gates anymore.”

“Meta once told me her Cestus hauler used those Laumer-Points,” Maddox said. “Or should I say the Cestus hauler went through it in order to let off Kane’s scout.”

“That isn’t what Meta said, sir.”

“But I clearly remember…” Maddox’s words faded away. “You’re right. Meta’s hauler let her out and Kane used the scout, entering a small Laumer-Point that led into the system.”

“Damn coffeemaker!” Valerie said, giving the machine a whack with the flat of her hand. Valerie bent lower, pretending to fiddle with the machine. Out of the side of her mouth, the lieutenant said, “All I’m saying, sir, is that we’re headed to an extremely dangerous star system. I wonder if the professor realizes just how hazardous.”

“I’d imagine he would,” Maddox said. “Now, we do too.”

“We have to be careful, sir. The star system holds the Nexus, and it held this planet-killer. What else does it contain that makes it so deadly? Something that destroys ships and mining colonies.”

“You’ve made your point,” Maddox said. “We’ll have to go in on combat alert.” The captain became thoughtful. “How many light-years is the Xerxes System from Earth?”

“Eighty-three in eleven jumps using the Laumer-Points,” Valerie said.

“I see.” Maddox silently noted that Valerie had been thorough with her research.

“Whatever needs doing, you can count on me to try, sir.”

Maddox smiled. “I know that, Lieutenant. Is there anything else?”

Her features tightened. For some reason, that troubled Maddox.

“You know the last slarn hunter?” Valerie asked.

“Cesar Villars?” Maddox whispered.

Valerie nodded. “He’s watching Meta awfully closely. I noticed it during the morning cycle in the cafeteria when he didn’t think anyone was looking. I didn’t like the way he stared at her, Captain. He has bad intentions toward Meta.”

The words were like a spike into Maddox’s chest. He should have already seen this complication coming. The slarn hunters must have been friends, and Meta had killed Sten Gorgon.

The captain reached out, flipping two switches. “There,” he said. “The machine is fixed.”

Valerie stared at him.

“After waiting this long for my cup,” Maddox said, with tightness in his throat, “I find I’m no longer thirsty. I think I’ll have a lie down instead.”

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said.

“I expect you to return to the bridge,” he said. “Hail me if you spot anything of interest.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

Without another word, Maddox headed for the exit. If the slarn hunter had done anything to Meta—the captain increased his pace. He had to stop Villars from hurting his woman.